Peach Habanero Glazed Salmon

Peach Habanero is not a finishing drizzle here. It is the glaze, a third of a cup of it, cut with honey and Dijon and brushed on twice so the peach caramelises into the salmon under the broiler. The sugars in the sauce do the browning, which is why this works and why a thinner sauce would not.

Then the trick to steal: the pan is full of glaze that ran off. Whisk a knob of cold butter into it off the heat and you get a glossy pan sauce in thirty seconds. The habanero arrives there, at the end, as warmth behind the fruit.

Time 25 min · Serves 4 · Sauce Peach Habanero · How it is used 1/3 cup in the glaze, plus 2 tbsp whisked into cold butter for the pan sauce

Ingredients

• 4 salmon fillets, about 6 oz each, skin on
• 1/3 cup Peach Habanero Hot Sauce, plus 2 tbsp for the pan sauce
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp cold butter, cubed
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 lemon, halved
• A few sprigs fresh thyme

Method

1. Heat the oven to 425F. Line a sheet pan with parchment and set a rack nearby.
2. Pat the salmon completely dry, rub with olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Dry fish is the only way a glaze stays put.
3. Whisk 1/3 cup of the hot sauce with the honey and Dijon until smooth and slightly thick.
4. Brush half the glaze over the fillets. Roast 10 to 12 minutes, until the thickest part flakes under gentle pressure.
5. Brush on the rest and broil 60 to 90 seconds. Stand there and watch it. You want the ridges to darken and catch, not blacken.
6. Move the fish to plates. Tip the pan juices into a small saucepan with the extra 2 tbsp of hot sauce, warm for 20 seconds, then kill the heat and whisk in the cold butter a cube at a time until glossy.
7. Spoon the pan sauce over the salmon, squeeze the lemon, scatter the thyme.

One more thing

The same glaze works on chicken thighs at 25 minutes, and on halved peaches on the grill for about 4.